9 posts tagged “chinese”
I was tagged by semblance's book meme, so here it goes, my response to the challenge:
(Wait, I think I'm suppose to tag five more - Lorelei, legal beagle, Chayenne, lemon, and mo!)
Total number of books owned: >500
(Including books in Chinese and a small comic book collection from Taiwan and Japan.)
I also have over 100 books checked out from the library. Thank GOD for semester loans and three-year automatic renewals. I wonder what it says about your research when you have a library book for three years and nobody ever missed it... hmmm... Most books are now available online from ebrary or ebooks, so I tend not to buy books as much any more. Plus moving and storing books is such a pain.
Last book bought: 中國農民調查, by 陳桂棣 and 吳春桃.
The last book in English I bought is: The Identity Theft Protection Guide, by Amanda Welsh, PhD
Even though the book is about China, this edition is in complex characters because I was only able to find it in Taiwan. It is banned in China, so a little harder to find. The English edition is titled: Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of China's Peasants.
A friend of mine recently had his bank account cleaned out. He wasn't sure if it was identity theft, bank error, the IRS, or what, but it was quite a scare. Given these times and how easy personal information can be found on the internet, I thought I'd better begin safeguarding my identity as well. Even a little is better than being a sitting duck.
Last book read: Bush at War, by Bob Woodward
My summer reading list begins with the three Bush-era books by Bob Woodward: Bush at War, Plan of Attack, and State of Denial, and finishes with George Tenet's At the Center of the Storm. Besides the political intrigue, I feel it's an American citizen's duty to know what the administration did and what our hard earned tax dollars went toward, at the expense of domestic needs. Not to mention these are the events that set the stage for a new global history.
Five books that mean a lot to you:
- The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. One of the first books I read in ESL, the English as a Second Language class in elementary school when my family and I first moved to the US. I hate this book with a vengeance, having never been satisfied with any interpretations.
- The Stories of the Sahara, by Sanmao. Autobiographical account of the author's life living in the Sahara desert - her encounters with local cultures, her crazy adventures, and married life. This book is funny, adventurous, romantic, and oddly empowering.
- Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck. Ahhh, the best laid schemes o' mice and men...
- Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda. Exploring dichotomies of finitude versus infinitude.
- Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen. Works of Sachs and Stiglitz on poverty and development may have more mass-appeal, but Sen is the true blend of history, vision, and humanitarianism. Not bounded by the hegemonic economic discourse but authoritative in the discipline, he provides readers with an ideology, the visionary backbone to a real understanding and critique of economic development.
用最真的心 換你最深的情
如果讓你遇見我 而我依然年輕
也相信永恆是不變的曾經
如果讓我離開你 而你已能平靜
只願你放心 也不要你擔心
如果讓你離開我 假裝我也平靜
就算是傷心也當作是無心
時空阻隔 豈止長路迢迢
情絲纏繞 豈是長髮飄飄
那紅塵俗世的人為什麼 總是多情惹煩惱
本是雲該化作雨 投入海的胸襟
卻含著淚水 任孤獨的飄零
本是屬於我的你同把人生看盡
卻無緣再聚 怨蒼天變了心
無緣再聚 怨蒼天變了心
DRAFT:
If I were to have met you, and you were in the midst of youth
I would use the truest of hearts, to exchange your deepest sentiments
If you were to have met me, and I were still in my youth
I would have believed once that eternity was unwavering
If I were to leave you, and you have achieved peacefulness
I would rather put your heart at ease, less you have a worried heart
If you were to leave me, let me also pretend to achieve peacefulness
Even if broken hearted, let's also consider it as unintentionally (unwitting hearted)
Obstructed by time and space, not just limited by long long roads
Bounded by threads of passion, not just measured by the wind flown hairs
Why, the people of Red Dust and the material world, do our many emotions always bring about agony?
Once, the cloud was supposed to have transformed into rain, and give in to the sea's embrace
Yet it held its tears, let to wonder in solitude
Once, you were supposed to have belonged to me, and together we observed all of humanity
Yet we are no longer fated to meet, I can only resent that the world has changed (that the heavens had a change of heart)
No longer fated to meet, I can only resent that the world has changed.
I LOVE tapioca milk tea, aka Bubble Tea, a Taiwanese drink that is now the biggest fad on college campuses as well as major cities in America. But it drives me crazy when people and stores refer to the drink as "Boba Tea". The linguistic usage of "boba" has been a common practice on the west coast, but so far on the east coast most people still refer to the drink as "bubble tea". THANK GOD.
Boba is a Taiwanese slang for "big breasts". Although it might have different meanings elsewhere, in this context it represents a form of sexual objectification that is rampant in the Chinese society. Some have also made reference to nipples, but I guess that is too gender neutral so it hits a bit too close to home. The term "boba" is a form of sexism that is still tacitly condoned in the society, a reflection of chauvinistic & misogynist pasts. Most educated and cultured Chinese/Tawanese people would never use that word.
So please, the correct term is "bubble tea".
The sad thing is, the term is so accepted that many people thinks it's totally okay. The other day, I asked my aunt who lives in Taiwan, "Don't you know that 'boba' is a slang for a woman's breasts?" She was like, yeah? I tried to explain to her how sexual objectification is degrading to women, and it not only strips people like her own daughter of their identity and rights, but furthermore, may encourage crime and violence. She was still unfazed. Finally, I said, "But it's a word used by uncultured people! People who are unsophisticated!" Then she got really worried - apparently she's deathly afraid of being perceived as déclassé. Go figure, if you can't appeal on reason, try bigotry. How embarassing.
I"m so envious of people who read fiction, like Chayenne, lemon, navelgazer, Lorelei, MainMor. Heck, pretty much everyone in my neighborhood. The last English fiction I read was Angels and Demons, and it was only because I needed something quick and dirty to read on a direct flight from Portland, Oregon, to New York City. The two leisure books I'm reading right now are A History of God by Karen Armstrong, and The Social Construction of What by Ian Hacking. I've barely made a dent in either so far. Not much leisure time I have.
Well, I do occasionally read Chinese online stories on MyFreshNet... does that count as fiction?
Anyways, meanwhile I have 300 some references I have to read through for my dissertation. Standing on the shoulders of many many giants is totally killing me. Some of the books I am reading:
I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a job in the American manga industry after college. I honestly think the only thing I really enjoy reading are graphic novels, mangas. I'm a visual person. I like pictures in my books.
What's your sign? What do you think of astrology and horoscopes?
我是在雙魚座與牧羊座的交界下生的﹐所以註定了一輩子情緒相悖﹐人格矛盾﹐精神分裂。
以下是偶然在網絡上看到的﹕
雙魚牡羊座﹕
綜合雙魚的神秘幽深與牧羊座的外向活潑的雙魚牧羊，往往是一种擁有雙重性格的人。然而不若雙子那般顯著，他所隱含的另一面也許連他自己也難以發現，只會在極端的情境之下體現出來，這個區間的人在小說中無不有極悲慘的身世，卻不可思議地持有難以致信的樂觀態度。雙魚牧羊跨越的不僅是從冬到春的界限，也是從复雜到簡單、從結束到開端、從死亡到新生的界限。雙魚牧羊匯集星座間所有的思想與領悟，將之歸于零，再推展出新的開始。
哎.... 好像對我沒啥幫助。知道自己的星座又如何哪﹖ 知道自己就可以戰勝自己嗎﹖江山易改﹐本性難移﹐更何況這種模棱兩可的解說。我不知道我到底在做什麼。人家快快樂樂的上班﹐相夫﹐教子。我在這邊嘔心瀝血的追逐一個根本不存在的東西。真該找面牆撞頭去。
Show us a sign.
Submitted by the roo.
I'll show you TWO!
(It really should read: "Electricity: Danger")
(It's actually 1. person w/ broken arm, 2. person w/ child, 3. pregnant woman, and 4. person w/ broken leg. Get your mind out of the gutter.)
I exchanged DNA with three individuals today: two girls and a guy. It was definitely an erotic experience. For two hours we thouorghly exhausted all of our five senses, and I was quite satiated at the end. But we didn't use any protection, and now I am beginning to feel some regret and worry. I mean, how much do I really know these people?
Doing dimsum is definitely one of the most exhilarating experiences. Talk about food porn. You scout it, you covet it, you hunt it down and you devour it. Then you get more. On top of that, you do it as a group. It's like having one big food orgy fest. But in this day and age, when there are so many infectious diseases going around, everytime I share a Chinese meal with friends where we all dip our chopsticks into the same dishes, I always ponder.... how much do I really trust their personal lives to share saliva with them?
Of all Chinese food, dimsum is the WORST because there are so many small dishes. Usually in a typical Chinese meal you have a master utensil for each dish. But when you are doing dimsum, you have like 20-30 little tapas coming and going from your table. If you ask for a master utensil for each one, the waiters will KILL YOU (or spit in your food, same thing). Talk about social pressure.
There is essentially a base system to having dimsum, just like the path toward sex. So before committing to a dimsum restaurant, I recommend knowing what you are getting yourself into. Because there is no turning back.
The Three Bases of DimSum:
Then afterwards, when I wake up from the food coma, the worry kicks in. My God I wish my friends live a clean and healthy lifestyle and I hope I don't catch anything. I just got tons of bloodwork done for my job so I know it's not me!!!!
- First Base: Egg tarts, sesame buns, or dumplings. Any individually contained unit of food is a casual encounter. Yeah, your chopsticks might touch as you wrestle for that last piece of crystal shrimp dumpling, but it's just flirting and no harm done.
- Second Base: Pork spare ribs, sticky rice in lotus leaf, bbq chicken feet, turnip cakes. Your chopsticks, my chopsticks, it's getting intimate and exploratory, but we really haven't crossed that threshold yet. It's a sensual exchange, but portions are still relatively clean.
- Third Base: Sweet tofu soup, thousand year old egg porridge, mango pudding. Dirty, wet, and sloppy. We are going all the way. The waiter is sick of giving us extra bowls and we are just going to stick all our spoons in there. Yeah, there are going to be a few awkward moments and a few hesitations, but your stomach has completely taken over your brain, and the only desire is instant gratification.
PS: Thx for all your comments^_^ Sweet lotus seed paste buns for everyone!
It's a hoax. There is no Chinese proverb/curse that even roughly translates to "May you live in interesting times." I am so sick of explaining this every time someone says to me, "You know there is a Chinese curse that..." NO, I don't! It's a hoax, albeit an unintentional one, created or first mentioned by an English science fiction writer named Eric Frank Russell under the pen name Duncan H. Munro. It was "locked in", or legitimized, by Bobby Kennedy's 1966 Day of Affirmation Address in South Africa. It's not a bad phrase. The idea is interesting. But let's call it what it is. It is an American/English curse/proverb. Please, no need to drag in the Chinese.
小窩﹐好溫暖的辭。感覺上又安全﹐又隱蔽。 把這裡稱呼為小窩真是再恰當不過了。 也許好友說的對﹐懷疑人生的時候會讓人懷念在母體胎內那種被無條件接受的虛無和泰然。難道我真的如此缺乏安全感? 還是心寒?
